Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions that don’t involve losing weight

New Year’s Day brings hope for many. A new year feels like a fresh start and a way to right the wrongs of the previous year. The following are resolution ideas that don’t involve any diet tips since maybe this year should be the year you focus on something other than your weight as your 2018 goal.

Resolve to get all of the annoying necessary things in your life done asap. Schedule doctor appointments that you know you’ll need in 2018 now or schedule a time in the future to make that appointment if you can’t make it now (if your children need back to school doctor appointments, put in your calendar in June to make an appointment with your doctor). By doing this you’ll have an easier time getting the time/date that you want and you won’t have to worry about trying to remember it later.

If you had a hobby that you let go over the years, bring it back slowly into your routine. Did you used to read but lost time for it with the daily hustle and bustle? Resolve to read just 20 pages a day and try and build to more each month. Whatever your hobby was, bring it back so you have something to look forward to at the end of a long workday. You’ll have a sense of accomplishment each day you do it.

Resolve to learn more about something you don’t know much about. If you’re a republican, try watching CNN or listening to NPR. If you’re democrat, watch Fox News or read right-leaning magazines. Even if you don’t change your opinion of the opposite party, you will at least have a base understanding of how they approach different topics/policies. If you don’t want to learn more about politics, take one topic of interest and immerse yourself in it. That knowledge will be used at some point in your life even if it is just for a jeopardy question.

Take one of those rare free hours in your schedule to clean your junk drawer. You could find something you’ve been looking for but could never find in that black hole of a drawer. Resolve to keep it clean once you’re done.

Try to go to a restaurant you’ve been meaning to go to but were too scared that it would be too expensive or whatever reason. Even the most expensive restaurants will have cheaper items on their menu and even if you end up having to spend more than you’d like, you’re paying for the experience and for well crafted food.

Resolve to listen in all of your conversations. A lot of people will only listen to the point of making sure they have a good response but try listening for the sake of hearing what the person speaking is actually saying. People care more about being heard than having the other person have a witty answer.

Resolve to find a way to undo a bad habit. Are you a procrastinator? Find resources to stop this like self help books or even therapy if it’s particularly bad. Figure out the why of your bad habit and then you can find a way to find means to stop it for good.

Resolve to take the photos from your phone or camera and turn them either into physical photos for your photo albums or put them on a zipdisk. This will free up memory on your phone/camera and you’ll know that you’re photos are in a safe spot.

Resolve to sit down and decide are you at the point in your life that you want to be. If you aren’t, decide what steps you need to take to get where you want to go. Everyone can find an area that they can do better in their lives so figure out what yours is and research how to improve it. If you can’t think of a way to fix the problem then you’ll need to consider resolving to letting go of your expectation of fixing it. Some things can’t be fixed easily or at all. Resolve to let it go if you have exhausted all other ways to deal with it or simply don’t want to fix it anymore.

Resolve to be a better human being. Today’s society is so overwhelming selfish and hurtful towards others that it takes each and every person to make a concerted effort to control their own behavior. It will be hard not to snap at someone out of anger or to put your pride aside but this country needs to try harder to be better to each other instead of constantly tearing each other down. Act like your mom or whoever in your life you hold dearly is watching your every move in public. Would your mom be proud of your behavior towards others? Are you proud of your behavior towards others? Ask yourself this before you say or do anything.

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